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Japanese youth culture is a style for the youth and teen. The youth culture include Japanese idol, visual kei, Gothic Lolita, Nagoya kei and gyaru. The cultures such as Japanese idol and visual kei began as youth culture in Japan.[ citation needed ]
The youth culture in Japan began in the mid-1980s with the style visual kei with bands such as D'erlanger, X Japan and Buck Tick. In the 1990s the idol began with idol group Morning Musume. Other cultures for youth was Nagoya kei and Gothic Lolita. The youth culture in Japan began in the 1980s with cultures such as Japanese idol and visual kei. Japanese idol groups such as Cute, Morning Musume and Arashi began in the youth fans and teen fans. Visual kei bands such as An Cafe, Ayabie and Lynch. began with more fans of youth and teen and girl groups AKB48 and Berryz Kobo sing at more concerts in the Asia, USA and Europe. The gyaru began in the 2000s as youth culture and gyaru began in the song "Watchin' Girl" from alternative rock band Shonen Knife and Gothic Lolita began as youth culture in the 1990s and in the 2000s with Japanese visual kei rock musician Mana from visual kei bands Malice Mizer and Moi dix Mois.
A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. Many teen idols are targeted to adults for nostalgia purposes.
Gothic fashion is a clothing style marked by dark, mysterious, antiquated, homogenous, and often genderless features. It is worn by members of the Goth subculture. Dress, typical gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, exotic hairstyles, dark lipstick and dark clothing. Both male and female goths can wear dark eyeliner, dark nail polish and lipstick for a dramatic effect. Male goths use cosmetics at a higher rate than other men. Styles are often borrowed from the punk fashion and can also draw influence from Victorians and Elizabethan fashion. Goth fashion is sometimes confused with heavy metal fashion and emo fashion.
In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 on (sound) with the kanji 楽 gaku. Japan is the world's largest market for music on physical media and the second-largest overall music market, with a retail value of US$2.7 billion in 2017.
Kawaii(Japanese: かわいい or 可愛い, IPA: [kawaiꜜi]; 'lovely', 'loveable', 'cute', or 'adorable') is the culture of cuteness in Japan. It can refer to items, humans and non-humans that are charming, vulnerable, shy and childlike. Examples include cute handwriting, certain genres of manga, anime, and characters including Hello Kitty and Pikachu.
Kogal is a Japanese fashion culture that involves schoolgirls wearing an outfit based on Japanese school uniforms but with very short skirts. The short skirts are worn irrespective of the season. The girls may also wear loose socks and scarves, and have dyed hair. The word kogal is anglicized from kogyaru, a contraction of kōkōsei gyaru. The girls refer to themselves as gyaru ("gals"), although this word is applied to several other fashion looks as well.
Malice Mizer was a Japanese visual kei rock band active from August 1992 to December 2001. Formed by guitarists Mana and Közi, their earlier music and themes were characterized by their strong French and classical influences, later moving away from deliberate French romanticism and incorporating Gothic aspects after several difficulties befell the band. Their official fan club is named "Ma chérie".
Visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock.
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well as elements of R&B, dance, electronic, hip hop and rock, while the music of girl groups, boy bands, and acts like Britney Spears, is sometimes referred to as pure pop. Typical characteristics of teen pop music include Auto-Tuned vocals, choreographed dances, emphasis on visual appeal, lyrics focused on love, relationships, dancing, partying, friendship, puppy love and repeated chorus lines. Its lyrics also incorporate sexual innuendo. Teen pop singers often cultivate an image of a girl next door/boy next door.
Morning Musume '22, formerly simply Morning Musume and colloquially referred to as Momusu, are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an amount of 64.
Mana is a Japanese musician, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer, best known as guitarist of the visual kei rock band Malice Mizer from their formation in 1992 until their indefinite hiatus in 2001. A year later, Mana formed the gothic metal band Moi dix Mois as his solo project.
An idol is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements by talent agencies, while maintaining a parasocial relationship with a financially loyal consumer fan base.
Kaori Iida is a Japanese pop singer and actress, associated with Hello! Project and best known as a founding member of the girl band Morning Musume. She has also recorded with the Morning Musume side project band Tanpopo and is currently a solo artist. During her time in the group, she was the tallest member (168 cm), earning her the nickname "Kaorin" & "Kao-tan". She is currently a member of Dream Morning Musume.
Lolita fashion is a subculture from Japan that is highly influenced by Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period. A very distinctive property of Lolita fashion is the aesthetic of cuteness. This clothing subculture can be categorized into three main substyles: 'gothic', 'classic', and 'sweet'. Many other substyles such as 'sailor', 'country', 'hime' (princess), 'ero' (erotic), 'guro' (grotesque), 'qi' and 'wa', 'punk', 'shiro' (white), 'kuro' (black), and 'steampunk' lolita also exist. This style evolved into a widely followed subculture in Japan and other countries in the 1990s and 2000s and may have waned in Japan as of the 2010s as the fashion became more mainstream.
Gyaru is a Japanese fashion subculture. The term gyaru is a Japanese transliteration of the English slang word gal.
Japanese street fashion refers to a number of styles of contemporary modern clothing in Japan. Created from a mix of both local and foreign fashion brands, Japanese street fashions tend to have their own distinctive style, with some considered to be extreme and avant-garde, with similarities to the haute couture styles seen on European catwalks.
Aristocrat is a Japanese street fashion that is inspired by what is thought to have been worn by middle class and higher social status Europeans in the Middle Ages, as well as the upper class in the 19th century. This fashion includes long sleeve blouses and shirts, long skirts, corsetry, trousers and dresses that are styled in a similar way for men and women, because it is centred on androgyny and elegance. Most aristocrat fashion takes heavy influence from gothic fashion. Makeup, when worn with the fashion, is on the darker side, may be heavy, and can be worn without regards to gender.
Nagoya kei is a subgenre of the Japanese visual kei movement that developed in the early 1990s music scene of Nagoya, Japan. The term actually developed before visual kei was coined, and gradually died out as the latter gained more popularity. Often considered darker and gloomier than visual kei both musically and lyrically, Nagoya kei takes its influences more so from western punk rock and alternative rock bands. The focus of the bands tends to be much less on costume and makeup in favor of more complex musical compositions and concentration on the music itself.
Alternative fashion or Alt fashion is fashion that stands apart from mainstream commercial fashion. Alternative fashion includes the fashions of specific subcultures such as emo, scene, goth subculture, hip hop, cyberpunk, kawaii, cottagecore, goblincore, 70's core, and Lolita fashion; however, it is not limited to these. In general, alternative, or 'alt', fashion does not conform to widely popular style trends of the times that have widespread popularity. It may exhibit itself as a fringe style – extremely attention-grabbing and more artistic than practical – but it can also develop from anti-fashion sentiments that focus on simplistic utilitarian drives.
Gyaruo are a sub-group of modern Japanese youth culture. They are the male equivalent of the gyaru. The o suffix that is added to the word, is one reading of the Kanji for male (男). And recently, the kanji for 'dirty' in Japanese (汚), which also has the same reading, is often used by gyaru and gyaruo in a light hearted way, poking fun at themselves because of the reputation that their subculture has gained within society due to their dark skin, hairstyles and often gritty, rough style of clothing that they wear. Gyaruo are characterised by their deep tans, dyed hair, party lifestyle and a liking for all different types of trance music including para-para dancing music, Eurobeat, etc.
Hiroshi Tomioka, better known by his stage name Dynamite Tommy, is a Japanese musician, record producer and businessman. He first rose to prominence as vocalist of the punk rock band Color in the late-1980s and early-1990s, but now predominantly works behind the scenes running his record label Free-Will.